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Indivisibles,

Donald Trump is [ [link removed] ]probably going to jail, and then he’s going to lose,
and then he’s going to prison, and then we’re going to party. How does
that sound?

Welcome to the bi-weekly-ish newsletter from yours truly. Let’s get to the
news, the brag, and the discussion. But first, a summary:

The news: The escalation of the war in Gaza, the growing campus protest
movement, and Biden’s move to limit support for Netanyahu. There’s a
pathway to protecting civilian lives, bringing hostages home to their
loved ones, stitching together a pro-democracy coalition, and defeating
Trump in the fall. For those of us on the front lines of building that
coalition, the news from Biden this week is welcome.

The brag: We’re preparing a major national mobilization in June around the
anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe. We’ll have hundreds
of events nationwide to focus public attention where we need it this
election: on Trump and MAGA’s attempt to ban abortions nationwide.
[ [link removed] ]Interested in supporting the events? Donate here. [ [link removed] ]Interested in
hosting an event? Info here.

The discussion: Leah and I hosted a live informal coffee chat after the
last newsletter that went great! Let’s do it again! We’re planning on 4pm
ET / 1pm PT on Friday May 31. [ [link removed] ]Sign up here so we know there’s interest,
and send in questions so we can get to as many as possible in the time we
have!

The news: The fight to define this election, and the rocky road to a
pro-democracy coalition capable of defeating Trump.

A dominant story in the news over the last several months has been the war
in Gaza and its impact on domestic politics. This is a hard topic to write
about, because once you start writing, you feel like you need to cover
everything. I’m not going to try to cover everything, but I am going to
try and outline my thinking on both a moral and strategic level because
it’s relevant to who we are as a movement and our north star goal this
year of thoroughly defeating Trump and MAGA.

Our movement’s name, “Indivisible,” means something. Indivisible is a
movement rooted in shared values -- a commitment to equality, human
rights, and the dignity and preciousness of all human life. The beating
heart of the Indivisible movement is our local groups and leaders. Since
October, Leah and I have been talking to Indivisibles, and our teams have
been seeking out input from Indivisibles. Though not uniform, I’ve heard a
pretty consistent 3-part reflection from members on this movement: 

 1. Indivisibles were appalled by Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7th that
murdered 1,200 Israelis and foreign citizens and took more than 200
hostages. And they are appalled by Netanyahu’s brutal massacre of
35,000 Palestinians, almost half of them children. 
 2. Indivisibles would like a permanent ceasefire, the killing to stop,
and the return of the hostages. 
 3. Indivisibles are worried that the war is fracturing our winning
Democratic coalition and diverting voters’ attention away from the
fascistic threat of Donald Trump and MAGA.

Indivisible has tried to turn the first two reflections into our advocacy
work. We’ve driven calls in support of humanitarian assistance, human
rights, and a ceasefire. If you’re on our list, you’ve seen our
communications on this over the last several months.

And then there’s #3. Netanyahu is escalating in Gaza, civilians are being
massacred and starved, Hamas retains the hostages, and campus protests are
on the front page. Republican politicians who defended white supremacists
and neo-Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us!” in Charlottesville are
now cynically exploiting legitimate concern about rising antisemitism to
fracture our coalition. And Biden is losing key constituencies --
especially young people and Arab Americans -- which risks us losing
everything in November.

It’s the final point that I want to focus on here, because it’s something
that I know Indivisible group leaders have grappled with and have asked us
to grapple with.

Let’s start with the basics: An election win begins with defining for
voters what this election is about. Before we even get to getting out the
vote, winning this year depends on defining what this election is about
for voters. If I had my way, it would be impossible to turn on the TV,
open up a newspaper, or listen to the radio without hearing reports on
MAGA attacking our democracy and abortion rights. All of the polling,
focus groups, and message testing that we’ve seen tells us that if voters
are thinking about abortion and MAGA extremism, we’re going to win. 

But that’s not the only thing in the news. The Republicans will try to
drive public attention to crime or the border or some cynical topic that
benefits them. And all the while the raging war in Gaza and the campus
protests against US support for it compete for (and deserve) public
attention as well.

Here's how we’ve wrestled with the moral and strategic imperatives of this
moment. This topic lends itself to lots of rhetorical detours, so to limit
myself, I’ll list out each individual thought that forms the complex
worldview:

 1. Indivisible’s north star this year is to reelect Biden and a
Democratic trifecta so we can pass democracy reform and codify
reproductive rights nationally.
 2. Accomplishing that requires us to define what this election is about
by driving press coverage and public attention to MAGA extremism and
the attack on abortion rights.
 3. One challenge in focusing attention on just those issues is the
ongoing war in Gaza, the prolonged plight of the hostages, and the
protest against the massacre of civilians which reasonably demands
attention. 
 4. Netanyahu is a horrendous, corrupt leader [ [link removed] ]who wants Trump to win
and sees continuation of the war as his best path to staying in power
and out of prison.
 5. Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis and foreign citizens on October 7th
was horrific and indefensible, [ [link removed] ]as Indivisible said at the time.
 6. Netanyahu’s massacre of 35,000 Palestinians and promised invasion of
Rafah -- the last refuge in Gaza -- is horrific and indefensible, as
Indivisible has been saying.
 7. [ [link removed] ]Most Americans and the overwhelming number of Democrats and
independents want a ceasefire and an end to the killing of Gazans.
Peace is popular; Netanyahu is not.
 8. [ [link removed] ]Peaceful protests are a good, all-American value -- one that
Indivisible has embraced since our founding and one that we’ll
desperately need if the fascists win again. We can condemn
antisemitic, Islamophobic, or other hateful actions or statements
while defending the right to protest.
 9. The campus protests are a natural outgrowth of US support for
Netanyahu’s war. The way to deescalate the protests is to end US
support for the war, [ [link removed] ]not send in the National Guard or sic police
on kids, professors, and protesters. 
10. Lecturing campus protesters about political damage to Biden won’t
bring them back into our pro-democracy coalition -- and we have a duty
to bring them back into the fold or we’re more likely to lose in
November.

I engage here from the point of view of someone who wants civilians to
survive now and for American democracy to survive after November. It’s why
Indivisibles have been pushing for a ceasefire for months -- calling
members of Congress, [ [link removed] ]working with coalition partners, and talking to
the White House directly about the moral and political costs of continuing
to provide unrestricted support to Netanyahu.

One of the questions I get a lot is: Why aren't you calling on Hamas to
release the hostages? And my answer is: Indivisible regularly does that.
But let's be real: A virulently antisemitic and anti-American militant
group does not care what a Jewish-led organization supporting a movement
of American activists has to say. When we're building advocacy strategies,
we focus on the decision makers who are accountable to us. That's our own
government -- and that government has a lot of sway with Netanyahu. And we
should expect our government to uphold international humanitarian law
regardless of what our adversaries do.

Biden’s move this week is morally justified and politically helpful. This
week Biden took a real step forward when he informed Netanyahu that [ [link removed] ]he
will withhold offensive weaponry for an invasion of Rafah. For months, the
Biden administration has been drawing a red line around Rafah, and
[ [link removed] ]Netanyahu openly disregarded it. Biden’s shift is a major development
-- something those of us calling for a ceasefire have been requesting.
Trump, Mitch McConnell, and MAGA Mike Johnson and other Republicans
immediately criticized Biden for it -- clearly a sign that this move was a
good one.

Biden’s move illustrates a central argument in favor of his presidency
that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez [ [link removed] ]made two weeks ago. A vote for a president
isn’t a vote for your favorite policies. It’s a vote for who you organize
under to push for your favorite policies. So the question is: Do you want
to be organizing under a Biden presidency or a Trump presidency? For those
angry about US support of Netanyahu’s massacre of Palestinians -- Biden
just demonstrated he’s heard their concerns. Keep organizing.

This of course isn’t over. No doubt the protests will continue if
Netanyahu continues to escalate. Building a winning pro-democracy
coalition in this environment isn’t easy, but the news this week made me
more confident we can achieve it.

The brag: A nationwide mobilization to focus public attention on MAGA’s attack
on abortion rights.

What we know from polling, messaging, and focus groups with undecided
voters in key battleground states is that they don’t like abortion bans.
They [ [link removed] ]don’t trust Trump and MAGA on abortion, and believe
(appropriately) that Republicans will ban abortions if given the chance.
For those of us who want to win in November, the question is whether these
voters will be thinking about abortion rights when they go to vote. 

So what can we do to make sure that this issue is top of mind this year?
Well, we can make some noise and grab some headlines. And that’s what
Indivisible is going to do.

The week of June 21-24, Indivisible is going to be supporting hundreds of
local attention-grabbing events to focus public attention on Trump and
MAGA’s attacks on abortion rights. We want voters to understand clearly
what a Trump administration and MAGA congress will do to reproductive
rights if given the chance. We want voters to know that Joe Biden and the
Democrats will enact reproductive rights legislation into law if given the
power to do so. We want voters to know that this election is a simple
choice between those options.

Our organizers on the ground have been working with groups for weeks
already to prepare for this moment. If you think this sounds like a lot of
fun, [ [link removed] ]here’s some guidance and support for hosting your own local
event.  

As described in our [ [link removed] ]fabulous week of action toolkit, here’s the
support Indivisible will be providing to make this as big of a splash as
possible:

* Event host training and press support training on May 22 and May 23
* Community planning spaces on June 5
* National kick off pre-events planning call on June 13
* Follow up office hours for all last-minute questions about events on
June 18
* Posters and graphics design support from our design team leading up to
the events
* Direct financial support to help local groups pay for basic expenses
-- signs, printing, megaphones, pizza for volunteers! 
* Fundraising support for local groups

If that seems like a lot -- it is! We’re trying to drive national
attention and that requires a lot of planning and prep work. If this
sounds like cool stuff worth investing in, why don’t you think about
investing in it? [ [link removed] ]You can toss some grassroots dollars into this
grassroots effort here. 

The discussion: Live Q&A is fun and healthy and we should do more of it

After the last newsletter, Leah and I experimented with an informal live
discussion with Indivisibles from all around the country. We spent almost
the entire time taking and answering questions about the state of the
world, Indivisible’s work, organizing and messaging strategies, and fears
and hopes about the campaign. It felt like a healthy movement space and
we’d like to do it again! So we will. 

[ [link removed] ]We’ll schedule the next one for May 31 at 4pm ET/1pm PT. We’ll take in
questions live again, but please register and let us know what’s on your
mind. Looking forward to it!

Until the next biweekly-ish newsletter, I will end how I began: Donald
Trump is probably going to jail, and then he’s going to lose, and then
he’s going to prison, and then we’re going to party. 

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin

Ezra Levin

[19]Indivisble Co-Executive Director

Pronouns: He/him

PS: It’s official: our 13-month-old Lila is walking now. Now there’s no
stopping her. But 3.5-year-old Zeke still summons all his strength to pick
her up and carry her around the house, which delights her to no end. Zeke
devotes most of his energy though to finding pictures of Spider-Man and
various villains for us to print. The cost of ink and paper will likely
ruin us.

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